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Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

Grew up on a bobcat with arms. Had a homemade fifth-wheel as well. I wasn't till 4 years ago that I got to drive a my buddies Hummerbee for the first time. Man what a difference! The hummerbee (or swinger) is the Cadillac of the beekeeping industry. Visibility, efficiency, and virtually no learning curve. If you got the money, I would swing for the hummerbee. But, if your like me who dont have the money layin around, get yourself a used bobcat and get to practicing on stacking empty bee pallets

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

I have a T-300 Bobcat with tracks and pallet forks. It weighs 9000 lbs and I have unloaded pallets weighing 4500 lbs. I have yet to get it stuck, (because I don't have anything bigger to pull it out with). Is this too much machine to be practical for unloading hives? I have no idea the ground conditions that you guys encounter during your operations. Heavy to pull around, but pulls easily with my 20 ft goosneck and the F450 with 11 ft flatbed. Main advantage is that it is paid for!

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by TooFarGone

I have a T-300 Bobcat with tracks and pallet forks. It weighs 9000 lbs and I have unloaded pallets weighing 4500 lbs. I have yet to get it stuck, (because I don't have anything bigger to pull it out with). Is this too much machine to be practical for unloading hives? I have no idea the ground conditions that you guys encounter during your operations. Heavy to pull around, but pulls easily with my 20 ft goosneck and the F450 with 11 ft flatbed. Main advantage is that it is paid for!

Well the short answer is yes it is overkill for what a beekeeper needs. I sure wouldn't want to pull a machine that size around. However, as you say, it's paid for and if your machine serves other functions for you and if you aren't using it that many hours a year for bee work then why not.

"People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe."- Andy Rooney

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Trevor Mansell

I dont know if Hummerbee is going to be around in a year or two, with these new tier 4 diesels coming out.

Hummerbee is using Kubota diesels. Most models use the 1505 series engines. Kubota as an OEM is fully capable of offering the engine along with the regen equipment as an engineered package. You can see from this Kubota engine spec sheet that this 1505 engine series will be offered in Tier 4:http://www.kubotaengine.com/products/05/v1505_e3_2.html

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by benstung

i can work pretty fast on these babies and i never get stuck or tip over

Man after my own heart. Plan to build another this winter giving us six. With all the "parts machines" I have sitting around, I'll have about 6-7K in it and will look brand new. It won't out run the 'swinger' in the quarter mile but will do everything else just as fast.... There are drawbacks however, some parts are becoming hard to find and expensive and....there are very few people that know how to work on them so you must learn to do the work yourself for the most part.

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

We have 7 610's 3 with factory masts 2 with edwards conversions and 2 with the original loader arms, and 1 611 with a factory mast. Plus one 1600 superbee swinger. I like the swinger, but for the money the 610's do a great job. (I can still kick the the swingers rear with the the 610).

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

Looks like the new Hummerbee XRT is quite a bit nicer than the Swinger 1k. Noticeably the superior joystick over the 1k. It seems A&O has also fixed the problematic articulating joint too. It's also a non-turbo kubota tier 4i. I'll be very interested to test drive this new machine.

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

What is the XRT? do you mean the XT? BTW Swinger has gone away from the joystick and the articulation joint on the Hummer looks the same as it did 30 years ago when NMC wollard first made it. But I do have to admit I like the orange ,it looks like my wife's Jeep.

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

Keith, fromthe pics I saw it appeard that it was easy on/off from the driver right side which is not on the 1k I tested. Also, the joystick looks like a real joystick that is much easier to hold onto and it operates lift/tilt/sideshift whereas the 1k only has a choice of two functions and I personally didnt like the joystick on the 1k I tested. It aslo appears that you sit closer to the forks and thus visibility is better(on our hummerbee turbo we sit closer to the forks it seemed than when we tried the 1k; so the xrt sits even closer is what I was told. It is also heavier and has more horsepower than the turbo. Though I dont know if it has reduction axles. And it looks like the new joint will add a lot of stability from rocking but possibly at a loss of traction on uneven terrain. These are fairly minor but if you live on your forklift like we tend to do sometimes I really do save time being able to get on and off each side quickly and the ability of an efficient joystick(which I havent tried yet) if it works well will save us a fairly significant amount of time...ok this is taking too long to type on my phone

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by JoshJames

Keith, fromthe pics I saw it appeard that it was easy on/off from the driver right side which is not on the 1k I tested.

Josh, I load with a 1K and it's the easyest thing to get in/out of, you would have to be stuck in a wheel chair to have a problem get on to the 1k.
The rest will have to wait an see..... but, I don't think it will hold up to the 1k as far as veiwed from the pics.

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Keith Jarrett

Josh, I load with a 1K and it's the easyest thing to get in/out of, you would have to be stuck in a wheel chair to have a problem get on to the 1k.
The rest will have to wait an see..... but, I don't think it will hold up to the 1k as far as veiwed from the pics.

Pictures?

"People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe."- Andy Rooney

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

[QUOTE=Keith Jarrett;856567]Josh, I load with a 1K and it's the easyest thing to get in/out of, you would have to be stuck in a wheel chair to have a problem get on to the 1k.

Keith, I'm specifically talking about the drivers right side of the 1k. This is NOT easy to get on and off from that side. This is why swinger did not even add a step for this side of the machine because they don't see it as an entry. I am skinny and it was difficult for me to jump onto that side of the machine. I can be on/off the hummer quicker than the 1k I tried out. When we were planning on buying the 1k we were planning on putting a pedal on that side to alleviate that problem(but it would still be more difficult)

The XRT's new joystick will run ALL(including hive clamp) mast controls simultaneously which is a great improvement in speed.

The following is a quote from an email from Brian at A&O:

"The articulation joint is in only one direction. The twist and the up
and down movements are performed by the trunion rear axle. It makes
for a much smoother ride, and the operator naturally moves with the
machine over the terrain with this setup. There is no bearing in this
design, and it is greaseless. There is a polyurethane bushing in the
joint.

The axles have planetary gears in them allowing for a smaller transfer
case with only two gears in it instead of the four that are in the older
design.
The transfer case is also integrated in the rear axle housing.

The 2 speed can now be shifted on the fly without the need to have to stop."

As to longevity, only time will tell. But everything has worked very well on my turbo minus the joint problems. It's a well built machine that we have pushed VERY hard and it has held up so far. The controls are also more ergonomically placed than on the 1k we tested. So when all these minor things add up I think the XRT will best the 1k. Time will tell but I think we will wait for the XRT to try out before we grab a 1k like we were planning. I'm just glad the bee keeping community is getting to see some competitive improvement in the area of forklifts.

Re: Bobcat with forklift mast, or without, vs Hummerbee!!!!!!!!

[QUOTE=JoshJames;856662]

Originally Posted by Keith Jarrett

I can be on/off the hummer quicker than the 1k I tried out. .

Josh, I sell nutra Bee pollen sub at my shop here in Calif, we load other keepers trucks with sub using the swinger 1K machine, out of dozens of keepers that have jumped on the 1k at my shop your the only one with those veiws.